Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-07-14

and made the guests of the Pennsylva-
mans, and the demonstration OF welcome
and good fellowship that followed was a
demonstration of Union sentiment, too
sincere to be doubted or misrepresented.
In his address OF welcome, the president
of the Philadelphia Brigade Association,
after drawing a vivid picture of the great
charge of Pickett's men. said:
The old issues are dead and the new ones
confront US. We welcome you to this his
torlo field and its memories with true
soldierly greeting. We welcome you be-
cause you were brave soldiers in war; we
welcome you because you are true citizens
in peace, and may our stay here be one OF
pleasure to each of Us and of fraternal
greeting that shall guide US to higher re-
solves for the perpetuity of the Constitution
and the Union.
Colonel William r. Aylett, who sue
ceeded General Armistead as commander
of the brigade upon the death OF
Armistead, responded on behalf of the
State of Virginia to Pennsylvania well
come. 1t was a remarkable effort. He
said:
Above the ashes left by the war and over
the tomb of secession and African slavery
we have created new empire, and have
built a temple to American liberty in which
you and / can worship together. :.
There is not true man at the South to-day
but who feels as if he would like to stand at
the tombs of Lincoln and Grant, to plant
flower there and to water 1t with manly
tear! In the presence of feeling like this,
too sacred and deep for utterance, what
matters it who shall keep the battle flags!
They passed into your hands IN brave and
manly combat, untouched by dishonor, after
a baptism in blood that made the gray
jacket mantle of glory, and we are as
willing your people should keep them as
ours. They are in the hands of our govern
ment and brethren, to whom our honor
should be as dear as their own. Never
again will our old battle flags wave in strife.
They are dead, and we love and follow alone
now the living flag which floats from Key
West to Behring StraitS-frOm Bunker Hill
to San Francisco!
Two patriotic letters were read, one
from Gen. Sherman and one from Presl-
dent Cleveland. ''The fraternal meeting
of these soldiers upon the Gettysburg
battle field" writes the President. "will
illustrate the general impulse of brave
men and their honest desire for peace
and reconciliation. Continuing he
SAYS
The friendly assault there to be made will
be resistless, because inspired by American
chivalry; and its result will be glorious, be-
cause conquered hearts will be consecrated
by victory which shall presage the end of
the bitterness of strife, the exposure of the
insincerity which oonceals hatred by pro-
fessions of kindness, the condemnation of
frenzied appeals to passion for unworthy
purposes and the beating down of all that
stands in the way of the destiny of our
united country"
In closing, the President says: "While
those who fought and have so much to
forgive lead in the pleasant ways OF
peace, how wicked appears the traffic in
sectional hate and the betrayal OF patri
otic sentiment" Here, we believe, the
President expresses the honest sentiment
Of all true Union soldiers; indeed, OF all
patriotic hearts.
The war was the irrepressible and in
evitable conflict of two civilizations strug-
Cling for supremacy, for political power
and control in the nation. Politicians
might have hastened or postponed it,
bat they could not prevent it. Freedom
and Nationality were the two great issues
that produced the war and were settled
by it. They arose from the moment the
Constitution was adopted, and there was
no possible tribunal or mode OF trial by
which they could be settled except by
the wager of battle. The strength of the
charter had to be tested, and to-day it
stands the Immaculate charter of
Freedom and Nationality, as its
founders intended it, and is so recog-
nized by all, victor and vanquished alike.
This is the significance of the Gettysburg
incident. 1t was a day Lincoln would
have rejoiced to see, and had he seen it,
his soul would have been satisfied as was
Simeon's of old. The vanquished rejoice
in our victory, and thank God with us
that they did not succeed in their mad
attempt to destroy the Union. The
"bloody shirt" schemers-what more do
they want? Let them seek to keep alive
the prejudices of the war for selfish par
tisan ends, if they will, in view of the
last Gettysburg; they will soon learn
that there are no more campaigns in the
"bloody shirt"